The Program Planning Committee of the Georgina Community Resource Centre (G.C.R.C.) formed the Learning Centre for Georgina in March 1985. The project was originally a branch of the Newmarket Council, now known as Literacy Council York Simcoe, and came under the wing of G.C.R.C. to be able to access government funds. In October 1985, a community sounding was held to determine the need and support for the program. In February 1986, a Laubach Trainer from Newmarket delivered the first tutor training. The program, at this time, was still run by volunteers.

In March 1987, the Learning Centre for Georgina received funding from the Ministry of Citizenship and Culture, enabling the program to expand and employ a part-time coordinator. The coordinator began increasing outreach and recruitment of tutors and students. By 1989, there were enough people receiving literacy training to consider applying for adequate funds to expand.

With the changing focus of governmental ministries, the Ministry of Skills and Development took over the funding of community-based literacy programs province-wide in 1988. At this time, funding was increased to enable the Learning Centre to hire a full-time coordinator.

In 1989, there was another change in the funding ministry. At this time, the Ministry of Education took literacy as its mandate. There were also some changes in the program offered by the Centre. The project moved from being Laubach-based to a more student-oriented approach.

The year 1990 was deemed by the United Nations to be the International Year of Literacy. The number of literacy matches was sufficient at this point to hire an assistant through a Social Service Employment Program, for a contract period of one year.
The Learning Centre continued to grow and change in response to the needs of the community. With this growth came several changes to the Centre's name. The Learning Centre for Georgina began as the Georgina Literacy Council and was changed in 1991 to the Georgina Literacy Project, to reflect the style of tutoring then used. In 1992, the Georgina Literacy Project moved towards non-profit corporate status. As part of this process, the name was changed to the Literacy Centre for Georgina and the program relocated to the Stephen Leacock Centre in Keswick. In 1996, pursuant to its strategic plan, the centre changed its name to the Learning Centre for Georgina and moved to 155 Riverglen Drive in Keswick.

In October of 1999, the Learning Centre was approved for a five-year grant from The Ontario Trillium Foundation, to set up and operate a Computer Assisted Interactive Learning Lab. The "Learning Lab" provides literacy students with an opportunity to improve language and math skills using a very advanced literacy software program. Students are now able to book training sessions more frequently and on a flexible schedule. One to one and small group training continue to round out the program we offer to our learners.
The Learning Lab is also being utilized as a means to raise funds for the Centre through the offering of computer courses on a fee-for-service basis. Adults can now access computer skills training for personal use or for employment purposes. In addition, we are offering a "Grade Booster" Program that utilizes the literacy software to assist children in enhancing their reading and math skills. Enrolment numbers are growing in both of these programs.

The United Way of York Region granted expansionary funding to LCG starting in April 2000 to support the position of an Instructional Assistant. This has enabled LCG to hire a permanent staff person to work with our students in the Learning Lab. Our community has benefited greatly due to this funding, and our thanks goes out to the United Way for its continued support.

In May of 2002, the Learning Centre moved to 90 Wexford Drive, Unit 3, Keswick, into a brand new independent unit within the new Keswick Library/Ice Palace Complex. This site has a larger student area, which includes two computer labs, and space for student/tutor and group meetings. Proximity to the Keswick Library, Ice Palace and Georgina Gym also provides greater opportunities to link with these other community services and access more space as needed for programming purposes.

LCG entered into a new phase of the strategic planning process in July of 2004, gathering input from students, volunteers, staff, funders and the community at large. This process led to some minor changes to the mission statement, values, vision and goals. As well, strategic priorities were reviewed and as a result six new priorities were identified as a focus over the next few years. The Board and staff are confident that the outcomes of this process will be positive and are committed to ensuring that the strategic planning process is an ongoing work in progress.

In October of 2005 LCG, with additional funding from United Way, opened it’s first of three satellite sites in Pefferlaw at the Pefferlaw Youth Centre. That was followed by the opening of a satellite site at the Sutton Youth Centre and an additional site at the Ontario Works office in Keswick. Pefferlaw was not as widely attended as hoped, so we chose to merge the program with Sutton and increased the hours at the SYC from 9-11 Monday to Thursday to 9-2. The funding received also allowed for the addition of an instructor to run the satellite sites for us.

January of 2007 brought a new program to the Centre and a partnership with Seneca College. With the guidance of our MTCU Field Consultant we submitted a proposal to offer academic upgrading (Ontario Basic Skills IV – OBSIV) in conjunction with Seneca College at our main site in Keswick. Once we received approval to do so we began to offer non-credit college preparatory classes in English, Math, Biology and Chemistry.

The training provided by the Learning Centre for Georgina helps adults to increase their skills, thus improving their self-esteem and their ability to obtain employment, enter into further training or educational programs and/or function independently.